Benson to Receive PBA’s 2017 Legislator of the Year Award for his Efforts to Support Law Enforcement Community

(TRENTON) – Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee Chairman Daniel R. Benson has been selected as the recipient of the 2017 Legislator of the Year Award from the New Jersey State Policemen’s Benevolent Association (PBA), which will be presented at the Annual Valor Awards Banquet in Atlantic City on November 18.

In announcing Benson’s selection, the PBA noted, “You have been a true friend of law enforcement in general and the New Jersey State PBA in particular, especially with your support of our priority legislation.  No one has sacrificed more or stood up for New Jersey’s first responders as you have and, in so doing, you have shown great strength and courage on our behalf.”

“This is a tremendous honor coming from a community that sacrifices day in and day out to protect the people of New Jersey,” said Benson (D-Mercer/Middlesex).  “Every time they head to work they do so knowing they put their lives at risk.  As a legislator, I have tried to make it a priority to protect their safety and well-being and ensure they have the resources to do their job successfully.”

In addition to sponsoring numerous pieces of legislation that directly affect the law enforcement community, Benson serves as Chair of the Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee and directly oversees the legislative agenda that impacts the first responder community as a whole.

Among the more recent pieces of legislation Benson has sponsored to benefit the law enforcement communities are:

• A new law to protect and compensate prison guards and other state law enforcement officers who are injured while supervising inmates;
• A bill to establish an emergency alert system to help more quickly apprehend drivers responsible for fatal hit-and-run accidents;
• A bill to protect first responders who administer naloxone to save the lives of individuals experiencing an opioid overdose; and
• A new law to ban the possession of “flakka,” a street drug often associated with violent and self-destructive behavior.